This past Friday, Feb. 3 Albuquerque Artwalk took place in downtown Albuquerque to provide artists the chance to share their work with the public. Every month, Artwalk picks a featured artist for the event. This month’s artist is Beedallo, a local artist from Los Chavez, New Mexico. As a painter and illustrator, Bedallo’s work revolves around combining her love for cartooning with traditional folk art to create surreal scenes.
The event attracted more than just featured artists, though. Jacob Spill, a local artist born in Española who has done a gallery show at the OT Circus in the past, attended this past walk as a spectator, allowing him to experience what he likes most about the event.
“What I like most about Artwalk, especially if I'm just here as a spectator, is seeing all the young kids, like high schoolers, all punked out in their wild outfits,” Spill said.
The OT Circus is a local gallery featured during Artwalk. The gallery was open to the public during the event, with multiple vendors selling their art beside the building.
Curious Toast, a cafe-meets-art gallery located across the street from the OT Circus, has their own featured artist that gets to create their own “toast for the month,” with attendants being able to meet the artist and try their toast. This month’s featured artist, Comic Desert, created a toast with Mexican bolillo, black bean spread, pork al pastor, pickled pineapple, queso fresco and guacamole. The toast is served with a Jarrito soft drink.
Cosmic Desert creates artwork that mixes local New Mexican locations with elements of pop culture — one piece that represents her work features Totoro standing outside Frontier Restaurant.
Comic Desert wasn’t the only artist selling her art in Curious Toast, though: 11-year-old Autumn Horner was selling her artwork upstairs with the help of her mom, Steph Sugar.
“During (the pandemic), Artwalk was Autumn’s way to get out and sell her art again, since comic cons and everything stopped. So being able to be outside in the streets was a way for her to get back out again and get inspired,” Sugar said.
Horner has been creating art for about 6 years now, starting when she was 5. She now attends the New Mexico Academy for the Media Arts.
“Now, I see how many opportunities (there are) for kids. To get a $30 booth and for a kid to be able to sell their artwork and make money before they leave high school is amazing to me,” Sugar said.
Horner's most notable artwork for this event would be of her character “Gircat,” a combination of a giraffe and a cat. Gircat is Horner's favorite character she has created, and there's even a special Valentine's Gircat with heart-shaped spots created for Valentine’s Day.
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Mallery Quetawki, member of the Zuni Pueblo and a University of New Mexico employee, was also in attendance at the walk. Quetawki has been doing art since 2014, working as the artist-in-residence with the Community Environmental Health Program in the College of Pharmacy. She creates art as a tool for translation of scientific and health information for Native communities.
Quetawkis art prices anything from $2 to $40, making her art available to anybody at any price range. Although, Artwalk isn’t always about turning a profit.
“Even if no one buys anything, just chatting with people,talking about our art — it's pretty neat,” Quetawki said.
Jessica Baca is a freelance reporter at the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Jessica_Baca_
